A Low Inanda Dam In My Xplorer Journey Deluxe

A Low Inanda Dam In My Xplorer Journey Deluxe

Bass, Fresh Water
For many years my wife's watched my vibrant blue Fishcat Deluxe fade into something she deemed unworthy of floating on a dam. To right this wrong she gifted me with a brand new Xplorer Journey Deluxe for my birthday and Christmas presents. At first I was torn, not wanting to discard my still buoyant Fishcat, however curiosity soon got the better of me and I decided to give it a try at my local bass dam, Inanda. After convincing my wife that Emma would love a morning of sun, water and open spaces we climbed into the car and headed for the dam. So far all was on track. There was a short queue at the gate but it didn't take long and soon I'd setup a small picnic spot for…
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The Bass Are Back

Bass, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_2116" align="alignright" width="225"] Nick with a bass[/caption] After months of waiting it was finally time to head back down to Inanda Dam for a little bass bashing. Sadly conditions were not what we'd hoped they would be. Heading north towards the Umgeni River revealed algae on the surface that was so thick it appeared to be paint. Throwing out a popper was useless as it would either sit on top, or work it’s way under where you could no longer see it. Fishing sub surface may have worked but we weren’t interested in sitting in the muck. We therefore headed towards the dam wall where the surface was thankfully clear of the green goo. There was however another problem in that the dam was so low that there was…
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A Quick Session At Albert Falls

Bass, Fresh Water
On a recent family trip to Albert Falls I managed to break away from the group for long enough to inflate my float tube. The water was perhaps a little chilly (and bass are always tough on fly in winter) but that wasn't going to stop me from kicking out onto the dam. For some reason I'd only packed my 7 weight rod which meant I was limited to a floating line. This was far from ideal as I knew the fish would be holding deep. None the less I started with a popper which I threw up against structure for 15 minutes before deciding to change strategy. I cut off the popper and replaced it with a  looooooong leader and a large woolly bugger. This meant fishing as deep as…
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Third Weekend At Inanda Dam

Bass, Fresh Water
For the third weekend in a row Nick and I headed down to Inanda Dam to do some fly fishing. This time however our plan was to focus on the filming of the trip rather than the fishing, in the hope of putting together a short video of Inanda Dam and the bass opportunities it offers. Sadly the conditions weren't in our favour. Initially there was no wind and the water was like glass. It was also extremely hot and as such the bigger fish seemed to have moved into deeper water. With the focus of our video being on surface action we continued fishing with poppers despite the conditions being against us. Despite the tough conditions we managed to produce a few small fish on the surface. That said…
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Inanda Dam On Fly

Bass, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_1715" align="alignright" width="225"] Warren Prior's best bass on fly[/caption] For the second week in a row we headed down to Inanda Dam to target bass. Conditions were close to ideal thanks to the warm water, a decent cloud cover, and a slight breeze creating a gentle ripple on the surface. Nick was convinced that he'd been at a disadvantage on previous trips due to the onerous task of skippering the Baha vessel. I therefore took control of the wheel for this outing and decided to head towards the dam wall for the morning's fishing. My first choice of venue yielded no fish (although Nick did miss one) which left me a little nervous in my new captain's hat. Thankfully my second choice proved rather fruitful and we landed several…
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Inanda Dam In The Baha Vessel

Bass, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_1692" align="alignleft" width="300"] Fly fishing for lost rods[/caption] With Inanda fast becoming our most fished venue we decided to head down with a new objective in mind...to cover more water. We therefore left the float tubes at home and hitched up the boat, ready to explore the uncharted nooks and crannies of the dam (well, for us anyway). We launched the boat at 6am and were soon flying across the dam, sulking that neither of us had bothered to pack breakfast. Thankfully our hunger pangs were quickly forgotten as we pulled into our first bay. While Nick was still navigating the boat into our drift I threw out my popper and got straight into a fish. The water was murky with a lot of algae on the surface. It…
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A New Year’s Trip To Shongweni Dam

Bass, Fresh Water
Being such keen fly fisherman there is simply no other way to spend the first day of the new year than on the water. And with Nick up at Sterkfontein Dam dominating the yellows I decided that my best option would be to take the family down to one of the local bass dams for a short, afternoon session. My gut told me that Midmar and Inanda would be chaos with the new year's rush, and so I decided on Shongweni where I thought it would be quieter due to power boats not being allowed. As it turns out I was wrong. Shongweni was absolute chaos and we struggled to find a place to park. Eventually Sharon dropped me and my tube off and kindly got permission to sit at…
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A Slow Morning At Inanda

Bass, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_1642" align="alignright" width="300"] Yet another largemouth bass[/caption] Bass seem to be topping the todo list of late. I guess it's because they're close to home and great fun to fish for on the surface. So on Sunday we headed back down to Inanda Dam to have another go at the good old largemouth. I got down at 5:45 only to (once again) discover that the gate only opens at 6am. Rather than standing around I put this time to good use and inflated my tube and kitted up my rod. That way when the gate opened I was ready to go and was on the water within 5 minutes. This proved to be a good move as I picked up 3 fish within 15 minutes of kicking out. After…
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Yet More Inanda Bassing

Bass, Fresh Water
[caption id="attachment_1623" align="alignright" width="300"] Warren with a bass at Inanda Dam[/caption] After a slow weekend of fishing at Midmar we decided to head down to Inanda Dam to get back into some decent largemouth bass. With Nick driving it meant a lazy 6am start which resulted in us arriving at the gate at roughly 6:30am. I whipped out my Wild Card, it was swiped, and we were let in. While driving to our fishing spot I took a look at my slip and noticed that my card had expired several months before. Clearly they don't check the slips. Free entry for the win! After inflating the tubes we kicked out onto the water which was as smooth as glass. The sun was already bright and I was unsure as to how…
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The Annual Midmar Camping Trip – Take 2

Bass, Fresh Water, Trip Report
[caption id="attachment_1635" align="alignleft" width="300"] Carnage during a hail storm at Midmar[/caption] Our annual Midmar camping and bass pilgrimage got off to a rocky start on Friday afternoon when I received a photo of a decimated gazebo from Nick. He'd taken a half day and had headed up early with the family to get a small advantage over me with the bass bashing. Much to his dismay however all that this had resulted in was him setting up camp amidst a huge hail storm, which in turn had left his gazebo looking like nothing more than a trodden on spider with too many legs. Not deterred by his cries Sharon, Emma and I packed up the car and headed for Midmar with the new Cassa da Priors. We arrived shortly before…
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